Annan names expert group to monitor UN sanctions against Taliban

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named five experts to a monitoring group set up by the Security Council to ensure that United Nations sanctions against the Taliban are enforced, according to a document released today at UN Headquarters in New York.

In a letter to the President of the Security Council, Mr. Annan says that the team will be headed by Michael Chandler of the United Kingdom. The other members are Philippe Graver of France, Amod Gurung of Nepal, Ashraf Mohsen Mohamed Mohsen of Egypt, and Daniel Yorks of the United States.

The Secretary-General's actions came in response to a request by the Security Council last July that he establish a mechanism - comprised of a New York-based Monitoring Group and a Sanctions Enforcement Support Team - which will offer assistance to "States bordering the territory of Afghanistan under Taliban control and other States, as appropriate."

The team will help those countries increase their capacity to implement the sanctions against the Taliban, which were imposed in 1999 and tightened the following year to compel the group to hand over indicted terrorist Usama bin Laden and to close all terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

In addition, experts are mandated to collate, assess, verify wherever possible, report and make recommendations on information regarding violations of the sanctions.